Happy 4th Birthday Lottie Lee

Today we celebrated Locomotive style at CedarRock Railroad, Lottie celebrated her 4th birthday along with friends and family.  She was so excited to be surrounded by those who lobe and adore her.  It was a HOT Texas day but the cupcakes were sweet & the train provided a nice breeze.  Happy Birthday sweet girl we love you more every single day.

365 days later

365 days later this little ray of sunshine is ONE.

Bethany Lin Capri

Bette

is walking

says, Mama & Dada

loves to eat

loves her baby dolls

sleeps like a trooper

is the life of the party

she is strong, she is feisty, so is tough

She is our daughter, sister niece, granddaughter

Thank to Allison Mills Photography

Bette is ONE

This little blessing turned one year old today.  She fills our life with such joy.  Bethany loves bananas, is walking everywhere, funny, feisty, sweet, has the bluest eyes, & golden hair, her big round belly jiggles when she laughs, loves bath time, Elmo, her sissy, smiling sleeping on her belly, playing with staking cups. Not sure what we would do without her! 

Meeting with Santa Claus

Today Lottie & Bette met Santa, our predictions were all wrong! We predicted Lottie would be afraid, especially since she requested to go home about a dozen times, & Bette would smile ear to ear. When it was our turn Lottie bravely sat with Santa & we got a few smiles! Bette however smiled the entire time until she turned to see who was holding her, then she was done for..classic

Next weekend we are donating some toys and writing cards for children who will spend Christmas at our local hospital, we will spend the morning with Santa & hopefully maybe some more photo opportunities.  Although today's shots are perfect in every way!  Their beautiful dresses were made by the girls grandma CeCe, aren't they fabulous! 

It's a Girl...Lottie will have a little sister

 

Last week we found out the exciting news that Lottie will have a little sister! We had a small reveal to find out the gender, our local photographer Sarah from Sincerely, Sarah captured some great photos of us cutting into our cake to see pink or blue.  We saw PINK! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Puppy LOVE

 

Lottie LOVES her puppies Crawford & Benton, and they have adjusted well to her arrival.  We introduced them only 2 days after Lottie arrived home, we thought she would be scared since she never met a dog face to face but to our surprise she smiled and reached for them.  She loves to pet their fur and screeches in excitement when they are near.  We were especially worried about Benton our miniature schnauzer but he just feel head over paws in love with miss Lottie.  Crawford our older terrier mix is still a little skeptical of her, but slowly they are getting to know each other.  Both dogs rush to Lottie's room when she cries and are always close by her side.  We look forward to watching them grow up together.

Month Two

Wow how has it already been two months home yet feels like we have had our sweet baby forever, strange how time can be so conflicting.  Lottie continues to amaze us, we are still in awe of her everyday.  She is learning & growing right before our very eyes, it is a joy to watch.

Lottie has begun to use sign language to communicative with us, her open palate enables her from being able to produce words.  Lottie picked up on signs immediately & was so proud to show off her skills.  We began introducing signs during mealtime, therefore she learned "more", "eat", "bottle", "all done".  She also learned to sign "Mama" & "Dada"-be still my heart it was the sweetest moment ever!  Now her sign repertoire has over 20 different signs including "bear", "bath", "book" ,"& night night" She uses these signs spontaneously & with great accuracy during the day to express her wants & needs.  It was apparent that she truly understood the signs one day after some blood work my sad & crying baby looked up at me pointed to the door and signed "all done" yes baby we all done!  

Lottie is more toddler everyday!  Its sad to say goodbye to the baby phase, but we were so happy that we got a glimpse of this phase since she was 18 months when we adopted her.  We were so thankful for those precious weeks of pure baby bliss, something I as a  Mama spent sleepless nights worrying that it may be too late to witness.  Oh  but Thank God he answered my prayers & I was able to share in these sweet baby moments.  But now seeing her growth & toddler phase emerge it is so exciting!  Lottie started to take some steps independently, she is very cautious but oh so proud of her accomplishments.  She is "talking" & babbling all the time! In true toddler form, Lottie is into everything!  She loves remote controllers, potted plants, iPhone,  DVD players, glasses & mugs full of liquids and climbing the stairs when we aren't looking.

Lottie loves her toys & playroom!  We notice she is less likely to entertain herself with touch, playing with magazines,or by just lying on the floor.  Many of these were institutionalized behaviors and have definitely begun to subside if not completely disappear. Lottie loves all her toys but she loves her "Peek a Boo" bear, and actually signs bear when she wants him.  She squeals in excitement when she lays eyes on him,she  just adores this bear.

Personality wise  Lottie continues to shine, she is a social butterfly & loves to be surrounded by people.  Lottie loves to be out in public, & continues to light up a room, or Doctor's office, or even the checkout line at Target.  After moments of meeting her people truly are in awe of her sweet loving personality.  She melts hearts daily, & I just  love her sweet disposition.  Lottie has a feisty side, she is one tough cookie & when she is mad-let me tell you she is mad!  It makes sense, she is a survivor & a fighter.  This girl is strong!  

Lottie continues to rock the sleeping thing-averaging 11-12 hours a night!  Makes for really happy mornings for both Baby & Mama & Dada!  She LOVES her room & her crib.  We established a night time routine early on, and this girl gets it! She climbs the stairs and goes straight to the tub.  She loves bath time!  After lotion & PJ's its off to her Book Nook to read some bedtime stories.  She toddles over signing "book book book".  Meanwhile Mama or Dada turn on her music & light up turtle, and cozy up her blankets.  After story time, she smiles ear to ear to see as we say "the stars came out for you tonight" (talking about the stars on her ceiling from he right up turtle) oh she giggles in excitement  signs "night night" by putting her tiny hand to the side of her head, & practically dives into her crib.  We won't hear a peep from her until we open the door in the morning, even if she is awake she just loves to lay with her stuffed animals.  She is truly the sweetest thing! We love her more every single day!

Our Homecoming

Words are hard to find as I fight back tears trying to make sense of this amazing moment as I write this almost two months later (posted date on 03/15/13- actually written on 05/06/13).

We finally arrived home about 12 hours later than expected after spending the night in Atlanta. We were clean, refreshed, and oh so excited to be heading home...FINALLY.  Although we were devastated we missed our special homecoming party we knew all was in HIS timing and tried to be thankful for our flawless trip to China, our seamless  finalization of our adoption process, a happy healthy well adjusting baby girl, and great health for the past 2 weeks but it was hard missing our special reunion with our loved ones.  We HATED knowing our parents had to spend another night in Austin waiting to meet their granddaughter.  Oh and did we mention how badly we wanted to sleep in our own beds?! 

Our morning flight was on time and easy.  We were so excited as our plane began to descend  we changed Lottie into her red, white & blue.  We laughed and cried at the same time that finally we were home.  We departed the flight smiling ear to ear.  It was a little sad knowing most of our friends would be at work on a Friday at 10 am,  but ultimately we were so so thankful to be home.  We began to exit the terminal and head to baggage claim, eager to see the faces who could be there to welcome us home.

Well like we mentioned all in HIS plans, we were SHOCKED to see so many of our family members who chose to be there flying across the country to see Charlotte even if it was only few hours.  Can you say amazing and so meant to be.  HE wanted us to really focus on what mattered...FAMILY.  Oh it was so amazing to see all the smiling faces who we had no idea would be meeting us at the bottom of the stairs.  It was so intimate and beyond anything I could have planned.  (I am usually a bigger is better kinda of gal-so this was so perfect and obviously the best kind of homecoming)

Lottie just took to everyone, she smiled and laughed, and clapped her little hands. She is so full of life and love.  Its a joy to see her go to anyone and how much she adores to be loved.  We read what all the experts say- but how could we not pass this beauty around to all these people who have loved her so for so long.  This moment will forever be ingrained in my memory.   It was one of those magical, couldn't go better, take your breath away kind of day.  

A HUGE overwhelming THANK YOU to THE ARCHIBALD PROJECT for these gorgeous photographs documenting this amazing moment. The founders Whitney & Nick were heading to LA  the day we arrived (since we were arriving a day later) they actually hired a photographer to be at the airport to capture these special moments.  It was truly an amazing blessing and we are forever grateful!  Looking for a new way to support adoption? Think about donating to this wonderful cause.  Learn more here!  

http://thearchibaldproject.com/